In today’s polarized world, people are often talked about as “them” or “those people,” pejorative terms to say the least. In “One of Them,” author Kitty Zeldis takes that phrase, those words, and exposes the microaggressions, the ignorance, the prejudice behind them. There are two main characters whom we meet as they both attend Vassar College. While both are Jewish and from wealthy families, their approach to life is very different.
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A book with stories about cats who change lives? Yes, please! In “The Blanket Cats,” author Kiyoshi Shigematsu not only introduces us to seven extraordinary cats, he provides a glimpse into life in Japan beyond what tourists might see. We see real people with real struggles. And we see some very clever, perhaps almost magical, cats.
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Fredrik Backman’s books are not subtle. Their emotion and their power hit us like a fist to the face. And in his latest novel, “My Friends,” there are literally multiple fists hitting multiple faces.
The story is about many things: the power of great art, the paradox of youth—the cruelty and the joys, the strength of childhood friendships, the horror of abusive parents and teachers, and the transformational nature of love. The characters he shares are all rough, troubled people; not one is polished, urbane, and sophisticated. But we love them just for who they are — down-to-earth teenagers doing the best they can who become adults who do the same.
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Like many others, I love James Ponti’s City Spies series, and “City Spies: London Calling” is no different. There’s so much to like about the novels, including two wonderful adults and the six spy-children, the clever plots that take them around the world, the strengths and vulnerabilities of all the characters, and the unexpected twists that keep us turning the pages.
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When there’s a dog in the title, I’m hooked. And in “A Dog in Georgia,” author Lauren Grodstein has provided not only the titular dog, one Angel—who acted as a school crossing guard for children, for heaven’s sake, before she disappeared—but a plethora of street dogs who live, apparently mostly happily, in Georgia (the country, not the state). And when Amy Webb finds herself in need of something meaningful to accomplish, she decides to travel to Georgia and find the missing Angel.
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Lyn Liao Butler’s parents are from Taiwan, and often Taiwanese culture and food are featured in her novels, but in her newest novel, “The Fourth Daughter,” we are immersed in Taiwan, both in its crowded, colorful present and in its violent and politically fraught past. We meet two strong women, Liv Kuo, a chef in New York who is suffering from PTSD because of an extremely traumatic incident in the restaurant she worked at, and her grandmother, Yi-ping, who moved back to Taiwan after living in the US with Liv’s family for many years, helping to raise her grandchildren.
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Jeanine Cummins’ acclaimed first novel, “American Dirt,” was about the perilous journey migrants take from Mexico to the United States, and in her new novel, “Speak to Me of Home,” she takes us to Puerto Rico in a story that encompasses generations of women whose lives are either completely or peripherally connected to that tropical island.
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Susan Wiggs is known for novels with relatable characters and narratives that hook the reader from the start, and her newest novel, “Wayward Girls,” is historical fiction at its best. In this gripping story, we meet young girls who were forced to leave school, their homes, and their families, to work at a Catholic laundry masquerading as a charity home for wayward girls in New York.
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Rachel Howzell Hall is an accomplished author, and her newest novel, “Fog and Fury,” is the start of her first series, aptly called “Haven Thriller.” The setting is an idyllic California coastal town which some people are aiming to turn into a posh tourist destination and which has the nickname “Mayberry by the Sea.” But things are not as harmonious and peaceful as the movers and shakers in town would have people believe.
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Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, and his novels reflect not only his love of that Everglade-filled, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean-bound state, but also his disgust for the crooked politicians and right-wing fanatics who also inhabit the state. His newest novel, “Fever Beach,” is filled with the quirky characters Hiaasen is famous for, as well as an outrageously insane plot that is so very Hiaasen. And we love every minute.
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In many ways, Mary Alice Monroe’s “Where the Rivers Merge” is an ode to the ACE Basin, a place in South Carolina where three rivers join. The main character, Eliza Rivers, shows us the beauty of this place as we learn about her life growing up at Mayfield, a large property that belonged to her father’s family.
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Catherine Ryan Hyde is the bestselling author of almost fifty books, but her latest novel, “Michael Without Apololgy,” might be her most compelling one. She told me it’s a personal favorite and it’s “special.” (I think she’s guilty of gross understatement.) In this brilliant novel, like so many of her others, after we turn the last page, we have not only shared an incredible journey with the main character, we’ve learned and grown along with him. This novel will stay with you for a long, long time.
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